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Article Dans Une Revue Geological Society of America Bulletin Année : 2024

Intermediate water warming caused methane hydrate instability in South China Sea during past interglacials

Niu Li
  • Fonction : Auteur
Xudong Wang
  • Fonction : Auteur
Junxi Feng
  • Fonction : Auteur
Fang Chen
  • Fonction : Auteur
Yang Zhou
  • Fonction : Auteur
Maoyu Wang
  • Fonction : Auteur
Tianyu Chen
  • Fonction : Auteur
Germain Bayon
Jörn Peckmann
  • Fonction : Auteur
Hai Cheng
  • Fonction : Auteur
R. Lawrence Edwards
  • Fonction : Auteur
Duofu Chen
  • Fonction : Auteur
Dong Feng
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Methane hydrates are widely distributed along continental margins, representing a potential source of methane to the ocean and atmosphere, possibly influencing Earth’s climate. Yet, little is known about the response of methane hydrates to global climate change, especially at the timescale of glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we present a chronology of methane seepage from seep carbonates derived from a series of tens to hundreds of meters long hydrate-bearing sediment records from the South China Sea, drilled at water depths of 664−871 m. We find that six out of seven episodes of intense methane seepage during the last 440,000 years were related to hydrate dissociation, all coinciding with major interglacials, the so-called Marine Isotope Stages 1, 5e, 7c, 9c, and 11c. Using numerical modeling, we show that these events of methane hydrate instability were possibly triggered by the rapid warming of intermediate waters by ∼2.5−3.5 °C in the South China Sea. This finding provides direct evidence for the sensitivity of the deep marine methane hydrate reservoir to glacial-interglacial climatic and oceanographic cyclicity.

Dates et versions

hal-04573211 , version 1 (13-05-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Niu Li, Xudong Wang, Junxi Feng, Fang Chen, Yang Zhou, et al.. Intermediate water warming caused methane hydrate instability in South China Sea during past interglacials. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2024, 136 (2-3), pp.917-927. ⟨10.1130/B36859.1⟩. ⟨hal-04573211⟩
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